Design Notes

April 30, 2012

Returning to Doomwood!

Back For More Undead Fun!

And by fun I mean torture.

For us, not you.

Once again, Artix is personally crafting this story which means that we get to do a lot of things that the engine has never done before (which means a lot of new and interesting bugs). It also means INSANE cutscenes as the story continues.

I don't know if you were here for the last Doomwood but it nearly KILLED poor Samba. We asked an inhuman amount of effort from our (at that time) rookie animator, and while this amount of work would have killed, driven insane or caused a lesser animator to walk out of the AE Undergrounjd Lab never to return... Samba somehow rose to the occasion week after week (each week getting steadily worse for her) and somehow managed to pull off the equivalent of THREE MONTHS worth of weekly release animation in just under a single month.

Now we're back and while Artix DID learn that he needs to write fewer cutscenes, he seemed to think that meant that he could just make those few longer and even more insane than the earlier ones!

Needless to say this week it's all hands on deck as we return to Doomwood with an all new story which in nicely to the introduction of our first action figures!

I'm sorry to say that also means that I will be needed in the weekly releases for a while which means no time for Mid-Weeks, BUT we will probably have more MEMBER ONLY addition content in Doomwood than we have had in any other zone. Special fights, side storylines (which is much like a mid-week in itself) special armors, weapons, pets, capes, helms and other goodies and maybe even a special class (we'll have to see on that one).

Artix & Sepulchure Toys

They are nearly here!

My sources (at least the reliable ones) tell me that they are on their way to the U.S. Toys R Us locations right now. They should arrive there a week or two before theyn reach us here and become availible on HeroMart.Com.

People often ask us why we can't get them to Toys R Us locations in other countries and that's mostly because there are different branches of the company and our relationship is so far only with the American branch of the company.

If our stuff keeps selling well in the American branch then we might be invited to start up a relationship with various other branches of Toys R Us... but that's really up to you guys.

Toys R Us gets to set their own price and we want the HeroMart price to be competative with the Toys R Us price so we have to wait and see what they set their prices at before we can set ours. If we decided early and went too high with the HJeroMart price, then we would be shooting ourselves in the foot and losing sales to Toys R Us. If we go to low, then we undercut Toys R Us and they might decide to cut ties with us which kills any future deals we might make with ANY branch.

SO... soon they will get theirs, we will find out what the decide for the price and then we will be able to tell you the HeroMart price whicl will be very close to the store price.

For the special Limited Edition BLACK version of the toys, I'm pretty sure that the price will be $50. It comes with the same in-game items as the normal versions but we made a LOT less of these and you will ONLY be able to get them from HeroMart. These are for hardcore collectors ONLY (or maybe people who want to resell them on E-bay for double price when they sell our and go rare).

More news on that as it arrises.

Limited Time DOOM Starter Package!

A lot of you seem to be taking advantage of this deal and not just for the rare DeathKnight set!

Here's the deal: Right now we are offering our normal 3 month +1000 ACs Membership package (both on our payment page AND on the Portal Site payment page so you can get it with Artix Points) except for a limited time you get an ADDITIONAL 1000 AdventureCoins AND you get the DeathKnight Set (armor, helm, cape and sword based on the traditional DragonFable design) as a bonus!

It will at LEAST be here until the end of the week but this IS a Limited Time offer and once it's gone the armor set will go Rare (Any future DeathKnight class will have new art).

Even if you're already an AQW Member, getting DOUBLE ACs and a rare armor set for the same old 3 month price is a pretty good deal!

If you have already taken advantage of this deal and can't find the set, remember to look in your BOOK OF LORE in the AE section. You will see the DeathKnight badge near the bottom and you can open the shop from there! :)

The LAST Live Draw!

This Wednesday is the final of the five AE artist run of Live Draw events. Dage The Evil is on deck and warming up his drawing hand (by hand signing 500 of his Coffee Dragon prints which sold out over the weekend on HeroMart)

About the gauntlet.... don't ask.

As usual, we have no idea what he's going to draw beforehand but knowing Dage it will be EPIC. Like a banana with a hat or something!

Remember, we go live at 4:00 PM EST (Server Time) and the shop will stay up for only about 24 hours!

Beware Fakes

A lot of you older players have heard this before but over the weekend we got to hear from a whole new wave of NEW players telling us that Alina was promising them they could become mods or offering them free Coffee Dragon prints in exchange for passwords or credit card information.

THAT IS NOT THE REAL ALINA!

No member of the AE staff will EVER ask for your password or credit card information. Neither Alina or I have personal Facebook accounts... we only have Fan Pages. Here is MINE and here is Alina's.

Fake Facebooks and Twitter accounts pop up ALL THE TIME and there are LOTS of people who think that they have found the real deal, but use your head. Be smart. Look around the internet, talk to your friends... most importantly, don't believe everything that you see on the internet.

April 27, 2012

SkyGuard + Doom Package

DOOM Starter Package NOW Available!

DOOM is all around, it's in the air, it's on the ground... and in your INVENTORY! Purchase the $19.95 3 month upgrade now and for a limited time you'll also get 2,000 AdventureCoins (1,000 more than normal!) AND the DeathKnight Armor Set (Armor, helm, and weapon)! AQWorlds membership gets you access to exclusive storylines, quests, and gear!

DOOM: It's starts with YOU!

Once you purchase the package, check your Book of Lore for the DeathKnight Badge to unlock the shop and purchase all the DOOMtastic equips!

SkyGuard: Massive Mechsplosions! 

Mecha battle tech means MEGA PAIN! SkyPirates have invaded the SkyGuard High Command, and they’re after a VERY secret, VERY explosive weapon that could turn the tide of the war… and give whoever is behind all this chaos the win! High Command no longer trusts Captain Stratos, so it’s up to you to save the day, brave the legions of SkyPirates, and MAYBE get a ridein a really sweet mech! The SkyGuard's leveled up their tech!

Previously in Doomwood!

DOOM continues... in Doomwood! If you haven't played last Summer's Doomwood Saga, or if you've forgotten parts, then you've got a LOT to catch up on before next week! Click the button in Battleon to see what you've missed, then /join Doomwood and play through the storyline to see all of the secrets we DIDN'T reveal in the cutscene!

Coming NEXT week, Doomwood II: Whispers of the Darkness Lord continues!

Mid-week Member Release in Wednesday!

Don't forget to check out this week's member-only midweek release took place in the Lightguard map, where members can find Mitchem, a Paladin Loremaster. Ghosts, guardians, and epic gear await you!

• Paladin Loremaster Armor!
• Prismatic Supercape!
• The Hood of the Divine!
• Horns of Betrayal!
• Bladed Braid!

Artix vs Sepulchure Action Figure Video!

Good vs Evil clash in an incredible stop motion animation video featuring Artix vs Sepulchure! Watch as our action figures come to life and engage in the ULTIMATE BATTLE!

We hope this video, created by Counter656, will get you guys geared up, because the toys are coming to Heromart soon! Make sure to check out HeroMart's Coming Soon page for all the toys' information!

Dragon Deluxe Limited Edition Print!

Business and whimsy (whimsiness!) mix in this awesome print by Dage the Evil! Only 500 of these hand-signed prints will be sold, and once they're gone, they're gone FOREVER! (And there are only 343 left right now!) The print comes with the LichLord ingame armor AND if Heromart sells out by midnight, Dage will draw an EXTRA item as a gift to all those who purchased!

Whimsy + Dragon = RAWRsome!

AE heads to Relay for Life!

The world is made up of everyday heroes, and this weekend Artix Entertainment is joining a whole group of them as we race to find a cure to save lives in Relay for Life! We'll be walking, running, /stepdancing, and even /sambaing our way up, down, and around the track for 18 hours from Friday  to Saturday.

Have a great weekend, everyone! We'll be walking at the Relay all tonight, so if you're in the area, stop on by and say hi! Play the card game with us, spin the Wheel of Fortune or pick from the Treasure Chest to win AEsome swag!

April 26, 2012

Artix vs Sepulchure Video

Help us spread the word!

Thank you for the overwhelmingly positive comments and enthusiastic feedback on Twitter, FaceBook and the Forums. However, only people who saw it in game know about it. Most people have not seen it or even heard about this video yet! While this is still hot and brand new, please help us show this stop motion video to the world!

Help our game community spread the video! Here is what to do:

• Watch the video all the way through on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7EMdB3hpac&feature=relmfu
• While watching on YouTube, hit the THUMBS UP button and post an awesome comment!
• Tweet the link to the video on Twitter!
• Share the video on FaceBook!
• Tell any website owners, web comic creators, game blogs about it and ask them to post it!
• Tell Counter656 he did a great job! (This does not help promote, but it sure will make him feel good!)
• Also, for ULTRA CREATIVE / HACKER / VIDEO MAKERS
  • Remix the video footage into music videos and post it... send us the links so we can re-tweet
  • Create other bizzare, weird videos from the footage... it is ok, you have my permission. Just be sure to put www.AQ.com in it and give Counter656 credit... OH...AND link us so we can laugh too!
  • Oh... how will you get the video footage? You could rip it illegally out of the YouTube post... OR... you could just download the original file right here (169MB),  in my personal folder with my full permission and blessing. (What other game studio would do that!?) Go forth... create awesome! 

Thank you in advance friends! These are the moments that define our incredible gaming community... those of you who do the above are the reason an indie game company like us can stay in the fight with the corporate titans of this industry. Battle on!

P.S. We will be posting a video of Beleen doing a 3D game motion capture test tomorrow on www.Artix.com
P.S.S. NEXT week... the new DoomWood Saga begins for ALL PLAYERS!

April 25, 2012

World Premiere of Video!

GAME UPDATE:

Diozz's Live Draw was a lot of fun and the Artix vs. Sepulchure video is a HUGE hit! Also, the Member only Mid-Week Release is now LIVE! /join lightguard and talk to the paladin loremaster, Michem to start your new mini-adventure!

Behind the scenes: Artix vs Sepulchure

DoomWood Part 2 is coming... and this time, the story is going to break ALL of the rules and finally allow players to reforge the Blinding Light of Destiny. (The storyline will be available to ALL players.)  Building excitement before DoomWood Part 2 begins... is a "WHAT IF" video. There has never been a showdown between the ultimate evil DoomKnight Sepulchure (Gravelyn's father who was the main villian of DragonFable and destroyed at the beginning AQWorlds by Drakath.), and the good Paladin Artix. (Well, as you know Artix MIGHT not not be a Paladin by the textbook defination... but he is 100% good.) This is all about to change in the debut of this action packed stop motion video... Artix vs Sepulchure! (I, um... really hope I do not lose? O_O)

I have been writing anything goes "ALL GAME" design note posts at www.Artix.com with even more insider news. Please bookmark it and check in daily. To create this video, we teamed up with rising star stop-motion animator Counter656. He animated the video by taking the soon to be released Artix and Sepulchure collector's action figures, chopping them up into smaller pieces, and adding TONS more joints. (Like they do on Robot Chicken.) . It took him about a week per minute of animation. Then he used Adobe AfterEffects to create the Special FX.  The result is... amazing. I cannot wait to watch it in game with you tonight.

The figures in the video are our FIRST action figures and the team is incredibly excited -- mostly because if these do well, we get to create more in the future including Drakath, Dage, Warlic, Galanoth, J6, etc... The figures will be available VERY soon (like 3 to 5 weeks) at www.HeroMart.com and in U.S. based Toys"R"Us locations.

Artix (Paladin) figure includes:

• 5 exclusive cards for the AQworlds Card Game
• Paladin's Castle - with working trap door.
• Paladin HighLord Class
• Paladin Highlord's Armor
• Artix's Helm (not that he ever wears it... you should though!)
• Highlord's Battleaxe of Destiny (Similiar to the Blinding Light)

Sepulchure (DoomKnight) figure includes:

• 5 exclusive cards for the AQworlds Card Game
• DoomKnight's Castle - with working trap door.
• DoomKnight Overlord Class
• DoomKnight Overlord's Armor
• Sepulchure's Helm (ULTRA RARE)
• Overlord's DoomBlade

In addition to the regular Artix & Sepulchure figures we made a VERY LIMITED number of "Black Armor" variants. Because this is the 1st edition, they are expected to become very rare and desirable in the future. (*whispers* Like... leave them in the box if you manage to get one, ok?)

\

Also tonight, there is a mid-week release. I am pretty sure it will be in this place in DoomWood... beause Cysero asked me to come up with 12 more Paladin names. (Thank you to everyone on Twitter who helped me!) One of my favorites was "Derpadin".... so we asked Beleen to draw us a Derp Paladin... "Where is Derpadin!?" I LOVE her Derp art! (Also be sure to check www.Artix.com later this week for a video of Beleen doing motion capture for the 3D game project.)

Twitter/FaceBook/Forums Question: On a scale of 1 to Derp, how much do you love Derpadin? "My love for Derpadin is [YOUR ANSWER] out of derp." It could be 5, 62, 8999, A, Blue, Leiderhosen, etc

April 23, 2012

Save the World or Blow it Up!

Return to DoomWood!

Previously In DoomWood: The tale of DoomWood Part 1 is packed with puns, reveres vicious villains, and is overrun with undead, all while revealing the secrets of Artix's past... and future! This Friday, watch a "Previously in DoomWood" cutscene to revisit those memories of your journey with Artix to the deepest reaches of DoomWood!

If you haven't finished the zone (or started it) yet, then you should /join lightguard RIGHT NOW! You won't be required to have finished Part 1 to play, but when Part 2 REALLY starts next week, having that background knowledge is going to make the zone feel a lot fuller.

DoomWood Part 2: Whispers of the Shadow Lord will be available for ALL players and continues the story of Artix, Vordred, Sally, and Gravelyn, taking it to darker, more undead-ly places than ANY of us could have imagined!

DoomWood Member-only Mid-week!

PALADIN PUNCH! (Not the fruit drink.) In this week's member-only mid-week release, Cysero sets up your return (or introduction) to DoomWood but, as in any quest, your companions are the key to success! To unlock all the rewards this week has to offer, you'll want to make fast friends with Michtem, the Paladin Loremaster you'll meet on arrival.

When a misunderstanding pits you against one of DoomWood's Guardian Spirits, though, if fate is not kind, you won't have a ghost of a chance to survive! Rewards will include the Paladin Loremaster armor as well as a wide assortment of helms and capes, since we heard you guys wanted more of them!

SkyGuard: Things that Make You Go BOOMMM!

In the latest installment of the SkyGuard storyline, SkyPirates invade the High Command's mountaintop base, seeking to sabatoge communications and searching for access to their secret weapon. And that secret weapon just happens to be the all-new, high-powered battle-tech war mech, Project M3cha-d34th!

But when Stratos goes rogue, disobeying the High Command's orders, you'll need to deal with the SkyPirates on your own! Something's rotten in the High Command, and it will take all you've got to save the base and all of Lore without blowing it all sky high!

Dark Caster X, Knave1 Rares Shops leave May 7th!

Join Dage's Legion... or try to infiltrate it! Speak to Dage in Battleon to access the Dark Caster X shop. Talk to Knave1 in Swordhaven to browse his show of slayer-ful gear! Both shops leave May 7th, so all of you asking for extensions to the shop can rest easy, you've got time left... but not a lot!

Cerberoz Livedraw this Wednesday at 4pm!

Join us this Wednesday at 4PM server time for Cerberoz's in-game live-draw event! We'll be taking your suggestions over Twitter about what he should draw so that you can see your input shape the item as it appears on the screen!

If you haven't joined us for an in-game LiveDraw event yet, here's what's going on:

You'll want to /join stream once the event starts and you'll be able to watch as one of AE's epic artists draws an item based on your real-time suggestions! That item will go into the Black Market shop in the /stream map and, once the art is polished up, the item will turn into the weapon you've just seen created.

AQW Action Figure Video Premiere after Livedraw!

And make sure to stay in /stream after Cerberoz's drawing event ends to watch the world premiere of the AQWorlds Action Figure video! Created using stop-motion animation, you'll watch the Artix and Sepulchure action figures comes to life before your eyes! Look for more details about the premiere as the event draws closer!

News about the action figures?

The action figures are on their way to the Lab as we speak! We'll have prices and release dates to you guys as soon as they are finalized!

One of the Good guys!

We've got a sneak peek of one of HeroMart's newest items! Drawn by Cerberoz, this poster features all-new, dynamically-posted character art of some of AQWorlds' most well-known Good characters!

We'll have more information on this poster and all of the other new HeroMart items as the decisions are made. Keep an eye on HeroMart's Coming Soon page for more news!

AE heads to Relay for Life!

The world is made up of everyday heroes, and this weekend Artix Entertainment is joining a whole group of them as we race to find a cure to save lives in Relay for Life! We'll be walking, running, /stepdancing, and even /sambaing our way up, down, and around the track for 18 hours from Friday  to Saturday.

If you're in the area, /party up with us at the Charles S Rushe Middle School from 6PM Friday night to 12PM Saturday! We'd love to see all our local players there!

Ludum Dare Update: Kitty.coli

This weekend, Cysero, Samba, Rolith, Thyton, Warlic, Epic Duel's RabbleFroth, and I participated in the Ludum Dare, a timed game-making competition. Scroll down to see more details about our infection-themed top-down shooter called Kitty.coli (takes place inside a cat's gut)!

Although we didn't finish on time for the contest - thanks to some unforeseen bugs (how appropriate!) - we have the beginnings of an awesome minigame with absolutely SICK art (literally)!

Thanks to all of you who supported us over this weekend with questions and encouragement! Making games is something we love to do so much that sometimes it's hard to stop when Friday's releases are over.

Coming SOON in AQW!

If you were in-game earlier this month, you might have seen Artix share some secrets about what's coming in AQWorlds over the next few months. But now we're going to tell EVERYONE! So here's what you have to look forward to:

• DoomWood Part 2 - Whispers of the Shadow Lord starts NEXT WEEK!
• Alchemy Tradeskill - IN TESTING NOW!
• Dage vs Nulgath War THIS SUMMER!
• The next Chaos Lord - a Chaorrupted Chronomancer explores your destiny... and the timelines which combined to form AQWorlds!
• We are working every day to get Guilds ready for release, BUT we really want to do this right, so testing and time are of utmost importance before it can release. /Cheer Yorumi on as he commands the code to make it happen!

April 21, 2012

Rocking Out the Ludum Dare

What do we do on the weekend? Make more games!

It takes a lot of guts to make a videogame!  This weekend, a group of AE staff members and guests (like One-Eyed Doll!) are rocking out in the Ludum Dare Game Jam* to create an all-new, functional game in 48 hours! Last night, all of the game teams got the theme, "tiny world," and our brainstorming began!

OED's sound effects are SICK!

We're going to explore one of the most important, but smallest, worlds - the universe of a virus! In this infectiously-entertaining top-down shooter, called "Kitty.coli"** for this weekend's prototype, the player IS the virus on a journey into intestinal exploration... and total cellular annihilation is its goal!

Wish us luck as we battle through the night in our game-making quest! We'll be tweeting throughout the rest of the Jam, so keep an eye out for progress reports. Get even MORE details about AE's progress during the Dare at Artix.com!***

* Ludum Dare is an international game-making competition. We're in it for fun and to see if we can beat last year's AE Game Challenge time limit. Then, we had one week to make a game. NOW we have 48 hours!
** First draft of the name "Journey to the Center of the Cat"
*** And make sure you check out this weekend's AQW release, Assault of the Banished One, Knave1's storyline!

April 20, 2012

Assault of the Banished One

Knave1's Undead Minion rebellion!

Be on your guard this weekend, because it looks like not ALL of Lore’s necromantic servants are under control. They’ve called down the wrath of the Desterrat Moya – the Banished One – upon us all! Help Knave1, King Alteon’s Royal UndeadSlayer, face down this eons-old entity and send it back to the dimension from which It escaped!

The Desterrat Moya is in the Void, waiting to begin its attack on Lore!

The Desterrat Moya – called the Banished One – is an entity which inhabited this plane long before Lore’s current pantheon. It is an Elder One which clashed with gods… and lost. Not a god itself, the Desterrat Moya is a creature from the time when our stars were dark, but undead minions have called on it for generations to free them from their Masters. And now it has listened!

Send the Desterrat Moya back to Its dimension and you'll have a chance to receive epic reward equips like:

• Armor of War!
• Boom That Went Dynamite Gun!
• Ascent to Arms Blade!
• Infector Deorum Helm!
• And more!

Knave1 has a bevy of battle-ready gear to offer you, too! Check his Royal UndeadSlayer and AC Rares shops to see everything in stock! The AC Rares shop leaves on Monday, April 30!

AC Rares Shop items include:

• Undead Minion Rebel Armor!
• Ascent to Protect Armor!
• Ascent of Long and Short Hair helms!
• Muted Helm!
• Ascent to Conquer Blade!

Undead Minion Rebel Armor!

The Royal Undeadslayer Shop will be in-game forever and includes:

• Purifier Armor!
• Mask of the Infiltrator Helm!
• Scarfie! and Golden Cape of Twirling!
• The Epic Blades!

Purifier Armor and Epic Blades

Who is Knave1? 

From Monday's Design Notes: Knave1 is the winner of the final I Can Has Mod contest! His wish was for his own storyline, an armor, and his own NPC. He asked to be King Alteon's personal UndeadSlayer and wanted your help to slay an Undead god. We thought that was a REALLY cool wish and immediately started planning out how to realize his dream.

Dage's Dark Caster X shop!

Some of you got a taste of what it's like to be a Dark Caster. But why pretend when you can be the real thing? Dage is gathering his forces and he needs souls... I mean SOLDIERS for his Legion. Join him, embrace your power and become a Dark Caster X! Together you will march on Dage's ultimate opponent, NULGATH! Be prepared; the extermination begins this Summer!

Dark Caster X armor can be yours!

Everyone who has the ORIGINAL Dark Caster armor will gain access to the Dark Caster CLASS (to be released in the future)!

Dage vs Nulgath Summer War!

If you skipped over the paragraph above, make sure to read THIS one, because we are officially announcing this Summer's WAR! Dage vs Nulgath! Choose a side, join an army, and prepare to slay, slaughter, and battle the forces in a war of Evil vs Evil!

Earth Day 2012 event and Limited Time Shop!

After you've saved Lore from the Desterrat Moya, save the world from the evils of pollution! /join pollution to help Captain Lore, battle General Pollution, and gain access to the greenest gear in the game!

Season rares include:

• Potato Powered Lightning Rod!
• Bucket Head Helm!
• Recycle Bin Turtle Pet!
• And more!

Punch through the pollution!

Earth Day Limited Time Shop!

You've got the whole world on your face! /sing Carry the weight of the world on your shoulders and look environmentally-conscious while doing it when you purchase the member-only Terra Topper Helm! The shop leaves on Wednesday!

Surprisingly lightweight!

Warning: Shop Loaders are Bad!

Shop-loading is bad, mmmkay? When you download ANY program to play AQWorlds, you run the risk of infecting your computers with viruses, keyloggers, and other malicious code that could crash your computer. Besides that, it's against the Terms of Service you agreed to when you made your account. If you have been shop-loading, you'll know it, and so do we. Play right, play fair, and Battle On!

Lorepedia!

Beleen and Jemini have been working very hard on a secret project, and today we unveiled the first phase of it! Head to www.AQ.com and look for the Lorepedia button:

This link to our on-site encyclopedia will take you to a page giving you the option to read about Lore's Classes, Badges, or Moglins! With all-new art and a collection of crazy-useful info, this page will continue to be updated in stages. Coming next: information on the Chaos Lords, Chaos Zones, and AQW NPCs!

The Lorepedia is not meant to replace the wiki; it's meant to enhance your knowledge of Lore and AQWorlds. It will not include information on info like monster drops or quest-givers, but it WILL give you all sorts of details about the characters and stories that make up our world!

Have a great weekend, everyone! We're going to get our game on, get to relaxing, and hopefully have a blast before returning to the Lab on Monday to begin Doomwood Part 2: Whispers of the Dark Lord!

April 18, 2012

Thyton Live Draw TODAY!

Master Ninja and Lead Combat Artist

We will continuing our 5 weeks of AE Artist Live Draw sessions with Thyton a little later today.

Thyton came to work for AE not long after I did. He was one of the core developers for DragonFable once it was launched and one of the few AE staff members who have been around long enough to remember what it's like working off of Artix's kitchen table, when the Underground lab was just a dream.

Thyton is currently the artistic director for the upcoming AQ3D project but still lends his talents to DF, MQ and any other game project which require his skills.

As I write this it is 9:22 AM.

Around 4:00 PM Server Time we will open the live draw map again and you will be able to watch as Thyton goes through his process. You can check the current server time at any time by looking in the OPTIONS menu inside AQW. (see above)

If you have a question for him I'll be taking a selection from the AQW FORUMS and my own Twitter account. He'll need his hands to show you his craft so I will be feeding him some of your best questions and broadcasting his answers and protips in the game.

See you there!

UPDATE:

Be sure to check out NightWraith (from Epic Duel)'s Design Notes post on his trip to the PAX East conference in Boston! It's an epic convention geared solely towards gamers.

April 16, 2012

Planet in Peril - Knave1's story

Assault of the Banished One!

Undead minion rebellion?! Scattered throughout Lore are the undead minions of necromancers; most of them cannot talk or think. They can only do the bidding of their Masters. But some... some DO remember their time as humans, remember what it was like to be free. And those that do have passed down through generations of undead the story of the Desterrat Moya - the Banished One.

An entity which inhabited this plane long before Lore's current pantheon, this creature has clashed with gods... and lost. An Elder One from the time when the stars we see were dark, the Moya is very powerful and grows stronger feeding on the pleas and petitions of the undead minions who can still think. However, though they look on the Moya as a deity, they do not comprehend its true nature and that may be their downfall!

Their cries have strengthened the Moya enough that it has broken free of the dimension where it has been sealed away, and now it travels to us! The undead* believe the Desterrat Moya comes to free them... but it has different, deadlier plans.

Work with Knave1, King Alteon's Royal UndeadSlayer, to save Lore from the threat of the Banished One and prevent an undead uprising! Look for Knave1's rewards shop, awesome monster drops, and a few rare boss drops from the Moya! Plus, the Interfector Deorum helm will be released, as well as new spear weapons!

* Although Dage the Evil created the art for the Desterrat Moya, Knave1's storyline is not connected to his Undead Legion. Good question though, Askewen!

Who is Knave1 and why does he get a story?

Knave1 is the winner of the final I Can Has Mod contest! His wish was for his own storyline, an armor, and his own NPC. He asked to be King Alteon's personal UndeadSlayer and wanted your help to slay an Undead god. We thought that was a REALLY cool wish and immediately started planning out how to realize his dream.

Originally the Final Cheezburger item was going to be called the GodSlayer Armor, but in response to many players feeling uncomfortable with the name, we decided to call it the Interfector Deorum Armor.** It keeps the spirit of the idea but is not as abrasive for a lot of you guys. So if you're wondering where you're Final Cheezburger went in your inventory, look for the Interfector Deorum Armor!

** With players from around the world, all of whom have different backgrounds and ideologies, creating content that pleases the majority can be a challenge. This time, we got enough negative feedback about the original name of Knave1's armor that we felt it would be more beneficial to the community as a whole to change it.

Earth Day 2012!

Hero, your planet is in peril, and NOT just from the Desterrat Moya! Pollution can kill a world dead just as easily as an attack from an inter-dimensional deity! This Friday AQWorlds celebrates Earth Day with the return of General Pollution, Captain Lore, and all the epic Earth Day seasonal rares!

 Thyton in-game Livedraw Wednesday, 4PM!

Quick as a ninja, Thyton's going to appear in-game this Wednesday at 4PM server time, draw an all-new weapon based on your suggestions, and disappear in a cloud of smoke! Make sure you log in and /join stream to watch the event! A shop will be available for you to purchase the item which will turn into whatever Thyton makes! This is the third in our series of in-game Livedraw events!

Grenwog, Lucky Day, Evolved Leprechaun Class Gone!

It was egg-citing while it lasted, but then our luck ran out! Grenwog and the Lucky Day Fair, as well as the Evolved Leprechaun Class, have all vanished. They will return next year with all new seasonal rares!

Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures!

Your luck is in! (Even if Lucky Day is out.) The Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures are currently on a boat in the middle of the ocean, making their way here! And the timing could not be better, because DoomWood: Part 2: Whispers of the Darkness Lord begins in TWO WEEKS! 

As Artix said on the AQ3D design notes:
To kick off the storyline, we will be releasing a stop motion battle video of the upcoming Sepulchure and Artix action figures which was created by our new friend from overseas. He took the figures apart, added a bunch of extra joints, and... well.. he sort of "robot chicken-ized" it.

If you want Artix and Sepulchure Action Figures of your own, you'll be able to find them at Heromart and US Toys R Us stores! Each action figure contains 5 rare cards to go along with out BattleOn Battle Card Game and includes a code to unlock the Caste or Doomknight item set!

April 13, 2012

Bunnypocalypse!

Voltaire vs the Sleezter Bunny on Friday the 13th

Battles, bunnies, and BOMBS! Be prepared, because THIS time Voltaire and Deady return to face down an inter-dimensional evil bunny hoppin’ into Lore… with an army of Bunny Clone minions! In this explosive event, you’ll need to crack some eggs and break some heads if you want to stop the Secret Weapon’s timer and save Lore from the Bunnypocalypse!

Don't forget to visit our the epic Event Page!

Featuring instrumental versions of tracks from Voltaire's last album and his latest song "BUNNYPOCALYPSE", voiceacting by Voltaire and Art, this event has quests that will keep you hoppin', a story crazier than any we've yet done, and egg-streme event rewards!

Event Rares!

These epic event rares leave on April 30th, so if you don't want to count your rewards before they're /equipped, make sure to grab them from the shop and battle until they drop!

You know you want to /equip this DoomBunny armor and /stepdance.

With a shop full of rabid rabbit-themed gear and even MORE rockin' rewards dropping off of Sleezter Bunny, this Friday the 13th could be your luckiest yet in terms of loot!

Featuring:

• Sleezter Bunny Armor and Head (drops from Sleezter Bunny)

• Voltaire's Horned Hat

• Voltaire's Horned Hat and Beard

• Miss Fortune Blade

• The Woe

• Gluttony Flower

• Jack Rabbit Armor

• Lucky Rabbit Armor

• And more!

Top of the horning to you!

The Rare Shop will go rare but the event is a part of the game forever!

Take your own Sleezter Bunee Home!

HeroMart is now selling a selection of Voltaire's new 5' vinyl toys based on Deady Bunny and Sleezter Bunny seen in THIS EVENT!

Each of the toys comes with a code that will unlock SIX NON-MEMBER PETS in AdventureQuest Worlds!

Every time Voltaire has given us a limited amout of his toys to sell, we always sell out of them and we sell out faster and faster each time. At this time HALF of our supply of these toys is already gone. If you want one, ACT NOW!

Going, going, GONE!

The Limited Quantity Shop is GONE! But if you act fast, you can still get your Grenwog and Lucky Day Fair gear including the Evolved Leprechaun Class in Itzachi! Hurry, though, they leave on Monday!

Jack Rabbit uses Soul Crusher on Sleezter Bunny.

The Final Golden Cheezburger is NOT the Golden Cheezburger Deluxe!

We've had a lot of confusion about which Cheezburger turned into Knave1's Interfector Deorum armor. Many of you have the GOLDEN Cheezburger in your armor, but that was for the Aussie Opera House (which is now rare). If you bought a FINAL Cheezburger, then you NOW have the Interfector Deorum armor! Hope that helps clear things up.

Mido Livedraw Weapons live!

Suggested by YOU guys, designed by Mido, AE's graphic designer, and remade in Flash by Solrac, we hope you enjoy the weapons Mido drew in Wednesday's in-game Livedraw event! Join us next Wednesday for Thyton's in-game drawing event!

The Tentacle Staff and the Dual Flaming Dragon Scythes.

Grenwog's Grenlich Pet is live!

From a Diamond Grenwog Tooth, an undead GrenLICH hatches! What pet will the Grenwog drop NEXT year? Give us your ideas on Twitter and the Suggestion forum!

Make no bones about it, this is an awesome Grenlich pet!

We're at Khaotic Kon this weekend!

If you want to come hang out with some of the members of the AE team, we'll be at the KhaoticKon in Tampa this weekend! We have an Artix Entertainment panel at 1PM... and that nefarious Chairman Platinum has booked the panel RIGHT AFTER ours! Devious!

Have a GREAT Friday the 13th (/knock on wood), don't break any mirrors (/throw salt over your shoulder) and if you have a black cat at home, definitely don't put its cat-bed under a ladder. See you on Monday! 

April 12, 2012

Interfector Deorum

The Final Golden Cheezburger Has Transformed!

As per Knave1's wish, the Final Golden Cheezburger has changed into a special armor that will tie into the mini-storyline that he wished for. The Cheezburger is now the rare Interfector Deorum Armor!

The name of the armor was changed to Interfector Deorum after some of our players didn't understand the usage of the original name, so remember... your Golden Cheezburger didn't disappear... just look in your armors for Interfector Deorum.

NEXT WEEK we will complete granting the winner's wish and add the quest line he wished for to the game as a permanant addition. It was a great wish for the last I CAN HAS MOD contest.

FRIDAY THE 13th IS TOMORROW!

Tomorrow Voltaire and Deady return for a brand new Friday the 13th special event, The Bunnypocalypse!

Join Voltaire and Deady as they face down one of Deady's least intilligent enemies... SLEEZTER BUNNY! Will you be able to sneak through Sleezter Bunny's army of clones Bunny Minions and stop him from hatching the giant DOOM EGG?! 

This event will feature an AC rare shop with Voltaire's new TOP HAT and other great items, lots bunny themed item drops for all players, new instrumental versions of Voltaire songs as well as his latest song "BUNNYPOCALYPSE"! Voltaire will be voice acting himself as well as Sleezter Bunny but can you guess which AE Team member did the voice of Deady? 

The floppy-eared fun starts tomorrow at around sundown-ish or so. Maybe.

You can read all about the event HERE!

Bring Deady Bunee and Sleezter Bunee Home!

Voltaire has released an all new line of Deady Bunny themed toys which tie directly into this AQW Special Event!

There are several versions of these new 5 inch tall vinyl toys that will be sold on HeroMart starting at 12:01 AM Server Time (EST or GMT-4) and will cost $25 USD + Shipping. We will have FOUR versions of the toys but Voltaire will have special versions.

Each version of the toy comes with a code that will unlock SIX in-game Deady themed NON-MEMBER pets.That means that it doesn't matter which of the toys you buy, each toy unlocks the same six pets. The Pets are all 0 AC for free storage and none of the pets are Battle Pets.

The six pets are...

and

And even the ones sold through Voltaire's site will have the code unlocking these pets.

Not many of these were made and judging by how fast HeroMart sold out of the last set of Deady Toys I would suggest that you try and get to HeroMart as close to 12:01 AM as possible if you want one or more of these little guys.

If you want to see more images of the toys CLICK HERE!

J6: Planetside and Earthbound

As many of you know, J6 entered a contest put on by the METRO and SXC to be one of the first private citizens to get shot into space. TENS OF THOUSANDS of you got behind the idea of sending J6 where he belongs and the results of the contest are in.

Here is a message from the man himself...

"Some of you may not know, but a few weeks ago I entered a local contest for a chance to win a quick trip to space. I signed up with high hopes but low expectations and with the stamp of approval from my coworkers I was able to put the link up in the design notes for all the players to see. I was really impressed by the overwhelming support from everyone. I quickly climbed to the top of the leaderboard and stayed ahead with a massive lead of over 30,000. Last night the contest ended and I found out that I had not won. The votes helped me reach the #1 spot but the winner was selected from the top 10 finalists. The winner seems to be someone who genuinely loves space and plans to make a career out of it, so I’m happy for her and hope she has a great time. I was only in it for the awesomeness of it all.

I live up in Canada, far away from the underground lab so sometimes it can get a bit lonely working alone. It really made me feel connected to all of you when I saw how many of you voted (without my needing to bribe anyone) and I am really grateful, especially to everyone I work with who spread the link every day to help support me. So again, huge thanks to you the players and Cysero for letting me use the design notes for my own evil plot to draw upside down going at Mach 3 up 100 kilometers in the air. Even though I lost I’ll still be doing a few space themed items in the near future so look out for those soon.

And if anyone happens to have a spaceship, I’m still looking for a way to get up there.

-J6"

We are all very sad that J6 didn't get picked by the judges but just seeing how many votes he got (the real winner only got about 2,000) really shows you what we can do as a community when we focus our collective will on a goal.

Well done, the lot of you.

April 10, 2012

Forgiveness

22,000 accounts banned in the last 24 hours

Yesterday, the #1 complaint with AQWorlds was "Botters are ruining the game." Today, the #1 complaint is "I was banned for Botting in AQWorlds!"

What is a "Bot"?

A bot or "autoer" is a program built by someone else that plays the game for you. ALL massively multiplayer games have a problem with them, and they are, and always have been against the rules. It is easy to understand why -- it is unfair to legit players who put the time and effort into the game, it takes time away from building the game to deal with botting/cheating/hacking issues, and... these programs are dangerous! Many stolen accounts are the result of people entering their login information into these programs or the websites claiming to provide them. If you download and use these programs, they can execute malicious code that can do ANYTHING a virus or trojan can do, harming YOUR computer... including stealing your personal data. Do not use bots. In addition to the dangers above, using them will get your account banned from AQWorlds!

Forgiveness

We love all of our players, so when 22,000 of you were banned yesterday for botting, it was both shocking and saddening. As you know, our goal is to keep our game fair, safe and fun  - not to ban players. We are all human, we all make mistakes. I certainly have, and you have forgiven me. (Although this was not one of them.) Therefore after 24 hours of being banned, players who were caught using bots will have their accounts restored. Please know, this will be the only warning. We know new versions of the bots will come quickly, and we WILL be able to detect them and update the server to ban those who foolishly use them. The next time you are banned it will be permanent with no way to get your account back  -- all of your hard work lost forever. From this moment on, we hope and encourage EVERYONE, whether you have used bots in the past or not, to help us keep the servers fair, safe and fun. Thank you to all of the players who have always been doing this.... Battle on!

Friday the 13th

.... is this Friday.

April 10, 2012

Bunee Toy Item Changes

Miscommunication correction

Looks like I misread the information we got sent about Voltaire's Bunee toys and the in-game items that come with them. Instead of getting a member-only battle pet and seven non-member pets THIS friday, you'll be receiving SIX non-member pets with EACH toy you purchase from Heromart.com!

The white bunny pets (1 member-only battle pet, 1 non-member pet) will come with a different Voltaire item releasing later in the year!

Sorry about the error, guys. When we do events like this, we get a flood of information, and this time I got some of it mixed up.

Info mistake aside, the team is hard at work on this week's event! Art is pouring in from our artists, Hizu is on the boss monster's animation, and the mood in the AQW room is intense. This Friday the 13th should be the creepiest, cloniest, bunnyfest AQWorlds has ever seen!

April 09, 2012

Voltaire returns for Friday the 13!

Deady vs the Sleezter Bunee!

Clones, bombs, and... BUNNIES?! Voltaire and Deady are BACK this Friday the 13th for an all-new event featuring the creepiest Bunee this dimension has ever seen! Sleezter Bunny's army of furry clones will have you hoppin' while Voltaire gets you rockin' to acoustic remixes of some of your favorite songs from his last album!

With eggs so spoiled they'll rot your flesh, a bomb built to blast, and an army of bunny clones that reproduces like... well, rabbits, this is going to be ONE event where showing a lucky rabbit's foot might attract more monsters than it repels!

Sleezter Bunee Toys at Heromart!

No Friday the 13th event with Voltaire would be complete without real-world swag to remember it by! Take home your very own Sleezter Bunee Toy from Heromart this Friday!

Each Bunee comes with SIX pets - 6 non-member pets!* Voltaire's IRL loot never fails to stun, stupefy, and terrify, so if you're looking to scare the living daylights out of your enemies (... or friends!), then these are the toys to stick on their shelves when they're not looking!

 * The Heromart site is out of date. You will get all SIX in-game pets when you purchase a Sleezter Bunee toy!

J6 Shirts in Heromart now!

Bounty Hunters, take note! J6 shirts are back in stock now but they won't be on shelves for long! This is the third time we've restocked the J6 shirts, and we don't know how many more we'll make, so if you want to look as fly as a J6, head to Heromart now!

Shirt comes with the J6 helm and the J6 Cowboy Armor!

Action Figures Coming Soon!

Now YOU have the power to choose who wins! Pit Artix against Sepulchure, Sepulchure against GI Joe, or Artix against a T-Rex! You decide the battles, you decide the winner! All you need to do is head to Heromart.com and pick up your own copies of our first-ever action figures! We expect to get the toys in late April or early May. We'll let you know as soon as we get them in!

Wednesday Livestream at 4pm with Mido!

Mido comes to AQW! If you've played through Etherstorm, you'll have met him already. And now you get to see his incredible art skills in action! This Wednesday at 4PM server time, log in to AQWorlds and /join stream to see Mido take YOUR suggestions and turn them into an awesome in-game item!

GodSlayer Armor coming this week!

When Knave1, the winner of the last I Can Has Mod contest, made his wish, he decided to become an in-game NPC with his very own storyline! He is King Alteon's Royal UndeadSlayer, and he needs your help to slay an undead god. With that as a base, we think we've crafted a compelling tale that will explore a facet of the undead most people never consider!

He also requested that his release be short, so we'll be fitting the entire tale into a single release, and it will all take place NEXT Friday! BUT the Final Golden Cheezburger will turn into the GodSlayer armor THIS week! I hope you've hung on to yours!

Botters Beware!

Bans for Botters! Earlier today, Yorumi had a coding breakthrough! He implemented a solution which lets us ban scores of botters which previously went undetected. In the first hour the patch was live, we disabled the accounts of 3,200 botters! They will be disabled for 24 hours THIS time, but if it happens again, the ban will become permanent.

Please, guys, we want you to enjoy PLAYING the game, hanging out with friends, and slaying epic monsters. Play right, fight hard, and BATTLE ON!

More news coming!

Look from more news from Cysero about the Voltaire Friday the 13th event as the week continues! Be sure to join us this Wednesday for the Livestream event with Mido! And get ready for Doomwood Part 2, which is coming in a couple weeks!

April 06, 2012

Happy Grenwog 2012!

Grenwog Menu

Would you like to hear about today's specials, sir or madam?

WE'VE GOT...

• A hot GRENWOG SEASONAL EVENT spiced with farm fresh Egg Hunts, free range Berserker Bunny 12 12 and EVOLVED Bunny Berserker 12 and ALL NEW organically grown Grenwog Items dropping from the Grenwog monster and new quests and quest rewards on Cabdury!
  
  Please note: We have MOVED the eggs in Battleon and Battleontown. You'll have to find them in their new locations.
  
  
• Your choice of EIGHT delicious new Player Suggestions in the Player Suggestion shop in Yulgar!
  
  Paladin's Vengeance Blade - Schillie
  Sarazen Armaments - CervantesMaxi
  Books of Power Cape - Championaustin
  Aspar Polearm - Unleashed Rage
  Enchanter Armor - Digyo
  Enchanter Mask - Digyo
  Luminous DragonKnight - Lord SlayR
  Luminous DragonKnight Helm -  Lord SlayR
  
  

• CHEF's CHOICE: SEVEN new TREASURE CHEST items!
  
  Paladin of Old Armor
  Horned Helm of Honor
  Winged Helm of Justice
  Helm of Wisdom
  Altar Of Sanguine
  Altar Of Ragnarok
  Altar Of Caladbolg
  
  The last three selections are our first HOUSE ITEMS, which give you in-game previews of the Sanguine and Ragnarok swords which will come with the Artix Button Collections coming soon to HeroMart.
  
  NOTE: You will need house item space to accept these Alter House Items when you open the Treasure Chests. Please plan accordingly.
  
  The Altar Of Caladbolg has a special treat for members of Dage The Evil's Undead Legion. Click on this terrifyingly beautiful House Item and it will offer you a quest which may reward you with the CALADBOLG SWORD, seen in the alter.
  
  Ask your waiter for allergy information.
  
  
• CATCH OF THE MONTH! Freshly caught Battle Lamb Pet-o-the month is available for AQW Members (Yes, it's a Battle Pet) in Aria's Pet Shop! The Baby Wooly Mammoth came to the shop a little late so he will hang around for a little longer. MARKET PRICE.

Happy Grenwog and enjoy your meal! OR ELSE!

COMING NEXT FRIDAY!

Next Friday is FRIDAY the 13th and Voltaire is returning for a brand new Friday The 13th event!

This event will (as always) feature Voltaire and a new Event Rare Shop which will stay open for a limited time. It will also feature Deady, his arch-rival Sleezter Bunny and a host of other nightmarish rabbit enemies! It will also feature a ton of new acoustic versions of his music which he is recording for the event!

Voltaire's in-game NPC will reflect his ever evolving on-stage look that he is currently wearing at his LIVE SHOWS!

Voltaire has some new limited edition collector's toys coming out soon and HeroMart will be selling a few of them. EACH of the new toys will come with a TON of in-game pets (like 7 or something) which will all be tied into this event so you really don't want to miss it!

And yes... you will be able to get his new Top Hat.

WE'RE NOT IGNORING YOU!

Did you read THIS? You should. It provides very useful insights into what it takes to keep this thing moving and we all have our part.

April 06, 2012

We Are Not Ignoring You.

We're Not Ignoring You (unless you're just looking for attention)!

Artix Entertainment tries to set it self apart from other game companies in a lot of ways but one of the most important is how much we interact with you guys. Any of you who follow my Twitter or like our AQW Facebook Fan Page know this to be true.

We love talking to you and even when we don't love what we hear, we love that you care enough to tell us what you don't like and we try and fix it. Unfortunately, we are not always logged in to Twitter (we do sleep on occasion) and when we are, we all have a LOT of people talking to us (at this time I have 31,035 Twitter followers and Artix has nearly 47,000!) so If we don't reply to you it's probably because we either missed your Tweet or because we can't reply to every single Tweet.

Please try and understand that there is no way that we can answer every tweet, much less meet up with every single person who asks to meet us in-game. We would never have time for anything else.

Another thing to mention is that it is mostly the Devs who are on Twitter. Devs (or Game Developers) are the people who spend all week building each new release for you to play, and fixing the bugs that you have reported on the BUG FORUMS. We also have a lot of other jobs dealing with game development and community outreach. All that stuff takes up the entire week (which is why some releases come to you a little later than others) and our jobs don't leave time for much else. In the rare cases when we DO find ourselves with extra time, we make a Mid-Week release or work ahead on new functionality!

So you can see that we Developers keep pretty busy with our own stuff. That's why we have Moderators to help you and protect you in-game and Player Support to help you outside the game with account and payment issues.

Nythera, Zazul, Memet, Neveya & Lady Tomo make up the Player Support team. Their primary job is taking care of you and your account issues. They do a fantastic job and are often overlooked for all the effort that they put into making AE function.

These are the brave and tireless people who read all of your HELP MAIL so you should always GO HERE if you've been hacked or find yourself with a payment issue.

The Player Support team receives THOUSANDS of e-mails EVERY DAY and they read every single one of them, but with so much to do, they can get a little behind sometimes and can't reply to you instantly so if you have a problem, please be patient.

Reens, Stratos and their team of Moderators handle a lot of in-game issues. Everytime someone is using foul language or trying to scam or trade accounts, it is THESE heroes to quietly step in and take action to try and keep the game as fun as safe as they can, and many of these mods are volunteers. They are giving their own time to sort through reports for no reason other than they really CARE about making AQW a safe and fun place for everyone, but they need YOUR help. 

If you see someone that they shouldn't be, click on their portrait and use the REPORT function to bring them to the attention of the Mods!

Let's Review:

• A Dev's Job is making the games.
• Player Support's job is taking care of account and payment issues.
• Moderators handle mutes and bans of in-game rule breakers.

Each team has their hands full. That is why we Dev's can't help you with your account or payment issues when you ask for help over Twitter. It's not because we don't want to, it's because it's not what we do and we literally CAN'T help you in most cases.

Telling the us DEV's over Twitter about your account issues is just about as useful as telling a bowl of soup to fix your broken TV.

It's the same reason that Doctors don't put out fires, Firefighters don't pick up your garbage and Waste Workers don't do open heart surgery. They each have their own job that keeps them quite busy.

If you are having account or payment issues the best thing you can do is head to the HELP PAGE and if you ask us for help over Twitter, that is why we direct you there instead of fixing your account.

Please understand that we really do want to help you (of COURSE we do... we WANT you to play AQW!) and we all do our very best to point you in the right direction to get you back on your feet as quickly as possible. :)

I DON'T WANT TO GET HACKED!

If you don't want to lose your account there are 5 simple things that you should do.

1. Pick a VERY GOOD PASSWORD. Make it hard to guess, use letters AND numbers. Avoid simple or passwords like AAAAAAA, qwerty, asdasdasd, 12345, 54321, or your character's name.
   
   
2. Never share your account with anyone (even your siblings or best friend).
   
   
3. Never tell anyone your password, no matter who they say they are or what they promise you. There are TONS of fake Cyseros, Alinas, Artixs and other AE fake AE staff ALL OVER Facebook and Twitter. AE STAFF WILL NEVER ASK FOR YOUR PASSWORD.
   
   We don't need your password. We have access to all of your accounts right now.
   
   
4. Hook your AQW account up to your BATTLEON PORTAL account! If something ever does happen, it's an extra level of security and helps Player Support fix your up faster.
   
   
5. Never use Hacks, Cheats or Bots. Many of these programs will secretly install a trojan virus called a KEYSTROKE LOGGER on your computer. This virus records everything that you type (passwords, credit card info, which websites you visit) and sends the information back to the creators.

April 02, 2012

So Much Monday News

We've got a LOT coming up!

RAWR! We are so PUMPED for this month; we've got so many release plans and they all start this Wednesday! So lets get straight to what you guys can expext this week, and then for the rest of the month!

Coming this week:

Grenwog:

Everyone's favorite boxing rabbit (at least, we're pretty sure it's a rabbit...) is back with a stash full of seasonal loot and an awesome boss fight! If you haven't joined us for our annual Grenwog event before, here's the breakdown of our Spring-Bunny-Egg themed holiday event:

In honor of Doomwood Pt 2 coming, we've made
the member-only Mini Grenlich pet!

• Egg hunt all over Lore with Cabdury the Bunny
• Backpack of Eggs and Vorpal Bunny pet w/ quests
• Grenwog boss battle
• Member-only Mini Grenlich pet (drops from the Grenwog boss)
  
• Return of previous years' seasonal rares
• New Grenwog gear like the Grenwog Slayer armor!

Aegis' Member-only Grenwog Slayer armor!

April Pet o' the Month - Armored Battle Lamb!

Careful, it'll bleat you to death baaa-dly! This member-only battle pet looks delicious but is really ferocious!

Great for ramming ewe-r opponents in baaa-ttle!

Also this week:

• Dage is working on some epic new loot for the Treasure Chest drops!
• Solrac is crafting some amazing armors for the Player Suggestion Shop!
• There will be NO mid-week release this week. Sorry guys! Cysero's hard at work on next week's Friday the 13th event with Voltaire!
• The first of FIVE weeks of in-game Artist Livestream events (one artist a week)! Log in on Wednesday at 4pm server time to see J6 draw an all-new item from your suggestions over Twitter!

Leaving this week:

• The Rares shop from The Magic Thief: Chaos in your Veins event leaves tonight!
• Cysero takes AQW back from EbilCorp at some point tomorrow!
• Lucky Fair leaves for another year on April 16th!
• The Limited Quantity Shop leaves Monday, April 9th (or once everything is sold out)!

Zard Rider armors are still in stock, but once they're gone, they're gone FOREVER!

Coming in April:

• Friday the 13th! Voltaire, Deady, and Evil Inter-dimensional Bunnies!
• Doomwood Part 2: The Blinding Light of Destiny! Artix returns to the AQW team to release  an expansion to last Summer's blockbuster Doomwood zone!

Doomwood Part 2: Blinding Light of Destiny
will reach out and grab your attention!

Coming Soon:

• Our next tradeskill will be ALCHEMY! This minigame is a lot more involved than fishing and takes a fair bit of timing and skill to balance the different components. With 16 potion ingredients, you'll be able to create a wide range of extra-effective elixirs, tonics, and draughts! No release date yet, but Dumoose is hard at work!

Magic + Science = Alchemy! (Alina + Lim = BOOM!)

• In case you haven't heard, we've made action figures! Artix and Sepulchure are sitting in the War Room as we speak, and we're preparing to launch them - and their rare BLACK variants - soon! We don't have an exact release date, but as soon as we do, we'll be sure to let you all know!

Don't worry, we're not toying with you. They'll really release!

Artix (normal or black variant) figures come with:

1. Paladin's Castle In-game House
2. Paladin High Lord Class
3. Palaldin High Lord Armor
4. Artix's Helm (Legendary item!)
5. High Lord's Battleaxe of Destiny
6. Paladin High Lord Character Page Achievement
7. FIVE original cards to modify your AQW Battle Card deck! (different from Seppy's toy's cards)

Sepulchure (normal or black variant) figures come with:

1. DoomKnight's Fortress In-game House
2. DoomKnight Overlord Class
3. DoomKnight Overlord Armor
4. Sepulchure's Helm (Legendary item!)
5. Overlord's DoomBlade
6. DoomKnight Overlord Character Page Achievement
7. FIVE original cards to modify your AQW Battle Card deck! (different from Artix toy's cards)

These will be available in Toys R Us in the United States and on HeroMart shortly after that. I'm sad to say that I STILL have no fixed release date for you, but I keep getting told "Late April, Early May".

Have a great Monday, everyone! The Magic Thief rares will leave later tonight, so get your gear while you can!